DEAR Sir,

Right to Food Association Malaysia (Hadam) would like to congratulate you on your appointment as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia.

In connection with that, Hadam calls on you, sir, to immediately address the issue of food security, which is tapering off after we come out of the pandemic with symptoms that are still not fully recovered.

According to the Global Nutrition Report 2022, currently, we have 2 million (6.3%) people who are hungry or unable to put food on the table every day.

Hadam hopes that the new leadership can focus on and take immediate action on the following issues:

1. Ensure that the price of basic food and beverages does not continue to increase, or realise a food aid regime that can accommodate all sections of the population, especially the poor.

2. Implement the provision of free, universal meals to all lower school children regardless of their family income.

3. Implement payback to children, under the Rancangan Makanan Tambahan (RMT) scheme, who were denied their entitlements when schools closed for two years (2020 and 2021), even though the budget for RMT was approved by parliament in 2019 and 2020.

4. Create a ministry responsible for the country’s food security. Hadam proposes that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry be renamed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and appoint a minister who is sensitive to feeding the population and not the profits of the industry.

5. Hadam calls for the four basic components of food security to be constantly guarded and monitored. These include: food availability, food access and affordability, food utilisation that meets the daily nutrition needs of each individual, and guaranteed food stocks in times of emergency, disaster and catastrophe.

Stable food security will improve the health and well-being of Malaysians in line with the top three goals of UN sustainable development goals: zero poverty, zero hunger, and health and well-being. – November 29, 2022.

* Dr Wan Abdul Manan Wan Muda is chairman of Right to Food Malaysia.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.